God is seeking people who step up with generosity no matter the odds.

Trusting God sometimes seem counterintuitive to us, and it was no different with the people of the Bible.

One such example comes from 1 Kings 17 in the Old Testament, where the people – including the prophet Elijah – were suffering through difficult economic times.

The Bible records that God provided for the needs of Elijah via supernatural means, including a band of ravens that scavenged food and brought it to him in the wilderness. God also used a widow from Zarephath to provide for the prophet.

Elijah asked her to give him the last of her provisions with the promise that God would meet all of her needs. She only had enough food and water left for one last meal. Yet out of her poverty she became an instrument of God’s provision for Elijah. God asked the widow to give her last meal to a total stranger to whom she owed nothing. Why would God ask this of her when there were others who had greater resources?

Because God knew she was an unstoppable giver.

Take your everyday, ordinary life – your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life – and place it before God as an offering.

— Romans 12:1

Unstoppable givers surrender themselves daily as a living sacrifice. These givers are willing to become a link between the will and purposes of God in Heaven while meeting the needs of people on earth. God knew the widow was willing to put others first while relying on his ultimate provision for her household.

The Apostle Paul was also an unstoppable giver.

He wrote: “So here’s what I want you to do, God helping you: Take your everyday, ordinary life – your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life – and place it before God as an offering. Embracing what God does for you is the best thing you can do for him.

"Don’t become so well-adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without even thinking. Instead, fix your trust in God. You’ll be changed from the inside out. Readily recognize what he wants from you, and quickly respond to it. Unlike the culture around you, always dragging you down to its level of immaturity, God brings the best out of you, while developing well-formed maturity in you” (Romans 12:1-2, The Message).

Take a moment to ponder:

What kind of giver are you?

What would you have done if you were asked to give up your last meal?

What is God asking of you now?

What is God asking that you are unwilling to do?

What do you possess that you are unwilling to sacrifice?

The story in 1 Kings ends with a miracle of abundance. How many miracles are missed because we are not willing to live beyond our fears?

The story concludes: “And she went right off and did it, did just as Elijah asked. And it turned out as he said – daily food for her and her family. The jar of meal didn’t run out and the bottle of oil didn’t become empty. God’s promise fulfilled to the letter, exactly as Elijah had delivered it” (The Message, 1 Kings 17).

What divine opportunity are you missing in your life because you are not willing to become an unstoppable giver, a living sacrifice?